The overall theme of these sessions is Spirituality of Resilience.  Sub-topics include how resilience can be experienced through Art, Music, Literature, Prayer and Meditation, Physical Nature of Body/Mind.  Each topic will be presented by a different speaker followed by discussion and reflection.  Specific dates for each sub-topic will be announced once they are set.  We hope you can join all the sessions or pick and choose those  that are of interest to you.  Watch for more information.

We are modifying some of the CHS Lay Ministries to enable more parishioners to serve again in our current Hybrid (worship in-person & virtual) environment:

• 1st Reader / Psalm – can be virtual or in-person.  Reads the Old Testament Reading and The Psalm.
  
• 2nd Reader / Intercessor – can be virtual or in-person.  Reads The Epistle and The Intercessory Prayer.
  
• Prayers of the People Responder – can be virtual or in-person.  This lay minister will be un-muted, if virtual, or given a microphone, if in-person.  They voice the People's responses (italicized) after the Intercessor voices the People's petitions.  If you have been a Lay Eucharistic Minister (LEM), we are hoping you will temporarily serve as Responder to the Prayers of the People.
  
• Usher/Greeter – Serves in-person.  We have combined the Ushers and Greeters.  This lay minister is changing the most.  She/he will be stationed at a control console located in the sanctuary and will:    
  >Welcome parishioners and visitors joining the Zoom or arriving in person
  >Control which camera feed is being broadcast
  >Aim moveable camera(s) upon different subjects (for example, the congregation, musician, preacher)
  
• Altar Guild - in-person.  Prepares the sanctuary for Sunday worship.
  

Please note that the following lay ministries will continue to remain temporarily paused:  Acolytes, Lay Eucharistic Visitors (LEV), and Counters.

The next scheduling period will be from February 7th  through April 25th.   Please update your availability in Ministry Schedule Pro (MSP) by Wednesday, January 28th.   We will generate the new schedule Thusday morning, January 29th. 

Use the button below to make a donation for Altar flowers.  The suggested amount is $35, so the button will  give you the option of $35, $70, $100 (plus the fee) or any amount you choose..  You will have an option to make a memorial. After you choose the amount and the payment method, right under the amount will be an option to add a note.  That's where you click and add your memorial.
Thank you.

We 3 Kings 2021 Stewardship Campaign
A House Blessing bag will be left on the front doorknob of each home.  In addition to containing a House Blessing prayer card, each bag contains a booklet about Holy Spirit’s  Stewardship for 2021.  As you consider your giving to CHS for 2021, please ask how you are being called to respond to God’s gifts and presence in your life.  An Estimate of Giving card with a return envelope can be found inside the back cover of this booklet.  

Thank you to all parishioners for your generosity this year and during this holiday season.  Due to year end of 2020 falling near a weekend, CHS will be extending the deadline for contributions for 2020.  Any donations received by Saturday, January 9th and dated on or before December 31, 2020 will be credited for 2020.  Any donations received after that date will be credited for 2021.  If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Sally Bird, Treasurer @ sallybird@comcast.net.

A pyx is not only a great Scrabble word, but an object that will be hand delivered to every home in the parish this month.. It’s a small container for holding the reserved Sacrament when bringing Communion to people in hospital or in their homes. From Dec 12th through the 20th, look for a gift bag dropped off at door; it will contain the pyx with reserved Sacrament, a service leaflet for the Christmas services, and the formal Christmas Letter and greeting we normally send each year.

Special Note: Are you Gluten-Free?
Let us know in advance if you prefer to receive Gluten-Free host.
Please email  eva@churchholyspirit.org 

From the earliest centuries of the Church, given the many plagues and persecutions, there have been many ways to deliver Communion to the faithful. On Maundy Thursday, the day we celebrate the institution of the Lord’s Supper during Holy Week, it was the custom of area Bishops to provide blessed bread to all parish clergy so that every church celebrated that evening from the same loaf. Monks and hermits living in prayerful isolation would come into a village to receive a month’s worth of Sacrament to take with them as they went back into the wilderness. So in this historic fashion we are distributing the consecrated host to everyone ahead of our Christmas services.

Since it is very likely our services on Christmas will be remote, given the surge in our plague, we are planning for you to participate at home where you are. Every pyx will be broken pieces of whole larger concelebration wafers, as a sign that we are all one Body. We will ensure enough of the host is available and you may feel free to break it up even further given your local circumstance. Additionally, enough consecrated Sacrament will be supplied, so that throughout the 12 Days of Christmas, you may choose to regularly receive Holy Communion. Instructions with additional prayers are provided in each gift bag. Going forward, we will invite you for the remainder of the pandemic to drive into the parking lot at the church to collect more at scheduled times- though it will also be provided during the house blessings [see article page 14. We expect you will store your pyx in the special place where you pray or keep holy things in your home.

Drivers Requested: We have 15 routes set up for house blessings during the Epiphany season and proposed delivering the Christmas gifts along those same routes. We need 15 drivers, with helpers if available. You will be offered a route – more than one if you have the time. Distribution should take place between December 12th and 20th. It takes up to a few hours for each route. Please send a note to the church if you are willing (social distancing and masks apply, of course).

Since the onset of the pandemic, the Shawl Ministry at the NJ Women's Prison has been shut down. No shawls are currently being made by the inmates of the prison. Consequently, our stock of shawls for distribution by CHS to persons in need has been almost totally depleted. If you are a knitter or crocheter, think about picking up your needles and hooks to help replenish our supply. Yarn is available in the hallway bins adjacent to the church office. If you need patterns or advice (or encouragement), ask any member of the Prayer Shawl Prison Ministry: John Andrews, Susan Kane, Vicki Brooks, Diane Bendahmane, Karen Murray, Roberta Maas, Judy Linger, Carol Crawford Jones, Anne Simpson, Dot Hospador, and Father Philip. Unleash your creativity and help the Shawl Ministry through this tough period. You will be glad you did.
 

The information below is still true, but Fanta has asked that we hold off on donations for the moment.  While she is still able to cook, she wants to cook her African foods so that she can pass them on to her children as part of their heritage.  Wow!!  What strength. (Since they are cooking and still shopping for other things, ShopRite or COSTCO gift cards are appreciated! )

As you may know,  Fanta has been battling metastatic breast cancer for years now and has just gone through several months of chemotherapy. She is now finishing up radiation. This has taken a big toll on her energy level. Preparing meals is presently not a priority for her.   As a community,  the best way we can support this loving family is to provide a daily meal. Bintou, Lossenie, Blessing, and Caroline are very helpful and supportive of their mom. Fanta is still the strong, independent person that we all know and love. Most of all, Fanta is to be admired for her unwavering faith throughout this diagnosis.

The family does not eat any pork including bacon and sausage, however,  these can be made out of turkey. Beef (as in stew or hamburger meat) and all types of chicken/turkey are enjoyed.  Broccoli is a favorite vegetable.  Spicy foods are fine along with soups.  Please remember that the children are now all teenagers and have appetites to match!

A Give In Kind website has been established to make this food train work.  Go to https://giveinkind.com/inkinds/P4Q4O3G/supporting-fanta-and-children

On that website you will find ways that you can provide a meal.  You can make a meal, order a take-out from a restaurant, or provide a gift card.  Holly Warnowicz and Susan Kane have offered to do delivery for you, and the information about securing their help, as well as other information, is on the website - you have to click on the buttons!  

"Food Pick Up Time" gives you a pop-up window with information about how and where to deliver food or arrange to have it delivered for you.

"Anyone with a Smoker" gives you information about smoked meats, as well.

Scrolling down or using the "From Calendar" button gets you to a calendar. You can see the dates from now on and the option to "Claim" a day.  The days that are claimed show what the donor is bringing. If you click the "Claim" you will be prompted to join or login.  You can login with Facebook or Google or you can join by giving an email and password.  Once you are in, you will be able to type in what you will bring on that day, that you'll bring something but you don't know what yet, or that you will order from a local restaurant.  You can also add a personal note to Fanta (she will get these notes!).  After you do that, you will get the information about Fanta's address and the option to add it to your calendar.  You will also get a confirmation email.

This isn't rocket science!  You can do it :).  We are family.

Dear Friends,
 
The only way through is through.
 
I am asking for assistance to develop our worship life in a hybrid environment.
 
With great technical help, and generous donations, we are becoming more adept at broadcasting our worship over the internet and integrated those at home with those capable of coming to in-person worship at Haytown Road.  
 
We are slowly creeping up the learning curve and all of you have been most patient.  Every week, we have an unanticipated technical breakdown and its different and adds to the helplessness of the moment.  However, with constancy and devotion, we lumber on.
 
That said, we are looking  to bouncing forward, not merely bouncing back.
 
Even when the pandemic is over, hybrid worship is here for good. The reality is, there will never be another "snow day."  (Sorry kids- school ain't never gonna be canceled again!)  There will be Sunday worship even on bad weather days cause there will always be internet broadcasts, even if from my
"basement chapel."
 
So who's up for helping?  We will begin with a creative conversation on Zoom, of course.  A date will be announced to those who respond directly to me.  
 
In the short run, we are also looking for vocalists to join our merry band - we are healthfully separated using mics in different spaces safely for all concerned.   It’s is our good fortune to have a modern worship space that allows for safe public worship. AND - remember, as always, no one should feel in any way pressured about coming here live.  Please stay home as only you can know best.  With folks only singing along softly in their masks, it's nice to have a PA system sharing the lyrics with a few voices, and if we had some harmony there, it would be great.  In the future, post-pandemic world, we're still going to want to broadcast hymn singing for those at home, so we are not just filling in temporarily.  This is a long term adaptation. And it will grow the mission of this church.  
 
Pardon for the bluntness here, but I know the world sucks right now and for a bunch of reasons and all at once.  Some days I just want to pull the covers up and hide for four months. But even so, we must rally, as we are able.  I have no idea what a "choir" looks like in the future.  One will have to be rebuilt here.  Among other things.  Our worship will need to emphasize the power and resilience of what a common life in Christ can build in the midst of chaos and calamity. 

Resolve.  Mindfulness. Courage. Tenacity.  How are these exhibited in our gatherings, our common prayers and ritual actions?  The unity of being one body in Christ is threatened.  The integrity of the witness of Jesus in the Gospels is put to the test and some are understandably confused by disparate messengers.  The Church has been here before.  We stand in the long train of the faithful, living through Nero, Caligula, and Diocletian, any number of plagues, the Dark Ages, and more.  We are reminded of their faithfulness and steadfast hope.  
 
So for those who want a stake in the shape of this worshiping life, give me a shout.  As goes worship, so too outreach, and stewardship, and formation, and all of it. All of it (us) will be bouncing forward.  We might not know what reshaping our ministries will look like except that they will all look more like Christ.
 
The only way through is through.
 
Philip+
 

After successfully being able to return our last book selection kit, "Educated," to the library, I believe it would be prudent to take a few more months' break from the Group.  There are several considerations involved in distributing the books to members, and some members, including myself, have voiced their reluctance to  meeting online in Zoom sessions to further compare notes about our readings. I am sure that we will be able to successfully resume our literary meetings in the future.  Until then, we should continue to stay safe and healthy.  

Suzanne Higgins